here - Able - Annette Johannesen

Assignment on Evidence

Assignment on Evidence Based Practice in OT - December 2000 Staff attitudes, social interaction and people with dementia in residential settings According to the international classification of diagnosis (ICDH 10), dementia is a psychiatric disease, but most of the staff has a background in physical care and usually little experience or training in supportive group techniques. Furthermore, many staff are employed with a background in care – not in enabling occupation. It is acknowledged that co-operation between occupational therapy staff and nursing staff facilitates more active and satisfied elderly people. And that staff, especially if they are used to working in the physical care area, needs education, training and continuous supervision in order to initiate interaction and active everyday-life in small groups of persons with cognitive problems. The question raised in this paper is, if the aims of the modern will be better fulfilled, if staff have competencies to enable residents in occupation, communication and social interaction. (Johannesen 1992; Swane C E 1991) Several studies looks at dementia treatment in daycare-settings (Forbes 1998; Law et al 2000; Spector et al 2000), on importance of relief for caregivers (Borell 1993, Haselkus 1998), and on the use of activity groups to promote well-being and increased social skills for people with dementia (Law M et al 2000; Spector et al 2000). However since increased social interaction is one of the most common outcomes in trials of dementia treatment (Forbes 1998), the focus in this review is quality of care expressed by social interaction in residential settings. 4

Assignment on Evidence Based Practice in OT - December 2000 Staff attitudes, social interaction and people with dementia in residential settings Aim of review This review will examine if there is evidence that staff attitudes influence the social interaction of residents with dementia, living in small group environment. Method The following inclusion and exclusion criteria have rigorously been applied: Key words Dementia, residential setting, social interaction, attitude of personnel Inclusions Published materials, research or based on research in English and Scandinavian. Specific to keywords, including staff and caregiver attitude, special care units and group homes. Articles on intervention strategies only if they connect staff attitude to social interaction. Studies from 1980 and onwards. 19 studies in total were found by the author using a combination of electronic databases: (Cochrane, Med Line (Pub Med), Cinahl, Psych Info, McMaster), the Internet and manual searching. After a review, 10 of these were excluded (see appendix 1) due to the inclusion criteria, and finally 9 were identified as useful and valid. From the 9 studies, there appeared to be three key stands relating to the purpose of the review: 5